Seth Mazzaglia, suspect in death of missing UNH student Elizabeth Marriott, held without bail

By Crimesider Staff

Updated on: October 16, 2012 / 9:34 AM
/ CBS News

Seth Mazzaglia
AP Photo/Dover (N.H.) Police Dept.

(CBS/AP) DOVER, N.H. - Seth Mazzaglia, a 29-year-old martial arts instructor, was held without bail Monday on a charge of strangling or suffocating a University of New Hampshire student Elizabeth Marriott who vanished a week ago.

Mazzaglia of Dover is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Marriott of Westborough, Mass. He did not speak during a brief arraignment via video feed, and is due back in court Oct. 29.

Marriott was last heard from on Tuesday, the same day Mazzaglia is accused of killing her. Her car was found on the UNH campus. Family and friends spent several frantic days searching for her before charges were announced over the weekend.

Police have not said what led them to arrest Mazzaglia or how he knew Marriott, whose body has not been found. Authorities said they expected to decide Monday how to proceed with the search.

Marriott, a marine biology major, was living with an aunt in Chester, N.H., and commuting to the university in Durham.

She attended class the Tuesday she disappeared and made plans to visit friends in Dover. Her cellphone was used that night, according to fliers family members posted around town.

Friends and family have described Marriott as a fun-loving, trusting young woman with a wide circle of friends who was active in chorus and a prom queen in high school. She loved animals, volunteered at the New England Aquarium and was helping put herself through school by working at Target.

Mazzaglia graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2006 with a degree in theater. Friends have said they were shocked to hear of his arrest.